More than a year after Texas voters approved routing billions in state sales taxes to roads and bridges, some lawmakers are questioning whether the first payment of $5 billion should move forward as planned. Texans voted in 2015 to boost funding for stateís public roadways and bridges, which have strained under the stateís growing population. Proposition 7 ó loudly cheered by top Texas leaders and supported by 83 percent of voters ó changed the state constitution to route some taxes collected on car sales to the State Highway Fund. But in an unusually tightfisted legislative session, some Texas lawmakers are...

ANGELA Merkel cut an increasingly isolated figure in Europe tonight as the rest of the continent ganged up on Germany over its imposition of crippling austerity. Major EU nations including France, Italy and Spain are clubbing together to form a new alliance with the aim of wrestling back economic power from the German leader. Mediterranean economies have been devastated by an EU-wide policy of austerity enforced from Berlin, which has led to massive youth unemployment and soaring poverty. Fiscally conservative Germany, which is the EUís largest economy, is reluctant to loosen the purse strings and authorise the huge injection of...

Have anyone of us contemplated this dilemma? Here we have a nation, run by liberals and socialists. And this year we have seen how it all ended. Just like in Greece and Maybe Puerto Rico. No Money, and in the case of Venezuela, no food. By now they have probably wiped out most of their pets and farm animals. But they have to eat meat once in a while. What are they going to do? cross over in their neighboring nations and kidnap any animal walking the streets and take them back home for dinner?

The world is facing a new crisis caused by an explosion in debt. So warns William White, the central banker who famously predicted the crisis of 2008. As financial markets reeled last week and fears of a fresh recession or even banking crisis sparked panic, White was more than willing to issue yet another prophecy of doom. The world is now facing a crunch that could see a collapse in property prices, including those in London; a new global banking crisis; waves of cheap commodities savaging Western industrial centres; and the need for debts to be written off on a...

A tradition in Brazil has been stopped due to financial woes. At least 48 cities located in eight states all over the country decided to cancel their carnivals because of the recession. News.com reported that the current recession in Brazil has led to the bleeding of financial resources among municipalities, spurring them to cancel their carnivals to save money that can be used for other programs. Cities in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Goias, Tocantins, Rio Grande do Norte, Minas Gerais, Paraiba and Rondonia changed their plans to hold carnivals at the final moment.

While low energy prices are thought to provide a boost to the global economy as consumers benefit from lower costs, there are growing signs that the dramatic collapse in oil prices ‚Äď so sudden and so severe ‚Äď is actually creating economic headwinds. The oil and gas industry spent $200 billion on drilling, refining, and new equipment in 2013, and the sharp cutback in spending is being felt beyond just the oil patch. Last week Wood Mackenzie estimated that $380 billion worth of oil and gas projects were scrapped by the industry. In The New York Times on January 16,...

Global-warming alarmists are turning up the heated rhetoric as the UN's Paris "Climate Summit" approaches, claiming that the supposed "crisis" of global warming is ‚Äúthe equivalent of war,‚ÄĚ even though there has been no measurable warming of the planet for the past nearly 19 years. "It is life on our planet itself which is at stake," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius declared on November 8 at a press conference in Paris, as foreign ministers and climate envoys from around the world met to prepare for the United Nations global summit on climate change

The agreement followed violent clashes in the countryís capital last night as protesters hurled petrol bombs at riot police after surrounding the Athens parliament ahead of the final deadline for the country's Ä86 billion bailout deal. As flames erupted, police responded with tear gas against dozens of hooded anti-austerity demonstrators who set ablaze parts of Syntagma square.

Clashes have broken out at an anti-austerity rally by thousands of protesters outside Parliament in Athens. Riot police used pepper spray and tear gas Wednesday night to fight back youths in the crowd who were hurling Molotov cocktails and rocks at police. Police said about 12,500 people were at the rally at Syntagma Square. The clashes broke out just as lawmakers were starting to debate an austerity bill that includes consumer tax increases and pension reforms. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has faced strident opposition to the bill from his own radical left Syriza party, says it's the best possible...

As European Union leaders push Greece for more austerity reforms, Athens enters political crisis and social media erupts in response. A two-day emergency meeting on Greeceís economic future ended Sunday with strict conditions from the European Union, including contentious austerity reforms, if it wants a new bailout and keep the euro. To meet the conditions for fresh aid packages and a third bailout that Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy, European finance ministers want Greece to pass a series of austerity measures--including tax and pension reforms-- through Parliament and put them into law by Wednesday. Greece will also have to lose...

The party ended when the you-know-what hit the fan around 2010. Soaring wages and gold-plated pensions had to end. Eternal austerity was the antidote. This was the EU at its bestóworst, actually. It was like taking a middleweight boxer, putting him on a very strict diet, and expecting him to become a heavyweight contender. It was and remains an impossibility. ... As a Greek whose family helped finance the war of independence against the dreaded Turks in 1821, I sincerely hope there will be a compromise, and the ill-advised plebiscite will be ignored by the powers-that-be in the EU. Putting...

As we reported yesterday, following the latest European leaders summit, Greece was given until the end of the week to come up with a proposal for sweeping reforms in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of Europe's currency bloc and into economic ruin. "The stark reality is that we have only five days left ... Until now I have avoided talking about deadlines, but tonight I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week," European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference. It did that moments ago when Greece...

Sunday, Greeks should vote ‚Äúno‚ÄĚ!Hellenic voters are being asked whether they accept the terms offered by the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund to extend the bailout for Athens‚Äė troubled finances or give Prime Minister Tsipras a mandate to insist on a better deal.Those conditions include more cuts in government supported pensions, higher taxes and labor market reforms other European governments‚Äô are often not inclined to accept in the conduct of their own affairs.Urging a Yes vote, European leaders and their supporters in private institutions claim more austerity would reinvigorate the Greek economy and permit Greeks to...

It¬ís a progressive paradise.Public employees get 30¬†vacation days a year. Anyone who works over eight hours in a day gets paid time-and-a-half. Employees have strong rights.The minimum wage is high: 77 percent of the median wage.Environmental regulations are settled beyond the pressure of local economic interests. The forests and mountains are pristine destinations for ecotourism.Energy costs are kept high, pushing consumption down to a level deemed ¬ďsocially beneficial¬Ē. Utilities have strong public backing and provide jobs to thousands.Union jobs in shipping are protected from outsourcing to cut-rate foreign competitors.The social safety net is buoyant and provides a solid working-class standard...

The European Central Bank is expected to end emergency lending to Greece's banks on Sunday, the BBC understands.Well-placed sources told BBC economics editor Robert Peston a decision to end the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) would be made by the ECB's governing council later on Sunday.Greek banks depend on ELA.Cutting the lifeline could push Greece out of the euro. Some analysts have tweeted that the ECB is likely to cap, but not end, the ELA.

End austerity: itís cheating us all; Jobs not Trident; No cuts; Defy Tory rule; Cut war not welfare; Stop fracking; a Living Wage for mothers; and, The Pope gets it, why canít you? With the slogans emblazoned on banners, posters and flags, anti-austerity marchers shouted slogans, sang, and beat drums, as they walked through London in what is being called the biggest protest march that the city has seen. The ĎEnd Austerity Nowí demonstration saw participation by an estimated crowd of between 70,000 and 250,000, all coming together to protest against cuts imposed due to austerity, the threats to the...

Seventeen people have been arrested following clashes with police during an unplanned anti-austerity protest close to Downing Street, the Met police said. Officers in riot gear clashed with a "minority" of protesters who threw objects during the rally - which came days after the Tory election victory. Four police officers and a police staff member were injured, the Met added. A police investigation is also under way after graffiti referring to "Tory scum" was daubed on a war memorial. The graffiti was sprayed on the Women's War Memorial, in London's Whitehall, which is yards from where a concert to commemorate...

BRASILIAó Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff raced on Wednesday to defuse a rebellion by legislators upset about her budget austerity plans and her handling of a corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras. Rousseff met with legislative leaders from her coalition after they unexpectedly threw out a presidential decree that would have raised payroll taxes and helped close a gaping hole in Brazil's budget. ďThis is very serious for Rousseff,Ē said political analyst Gabriel Petrus of Brasilia-based consultancy Barral M Jorge Associates. ďIt looks as if there is no political stability on top of the economic crisis.Ē The economic impact of...

Skynews is reporting on demonstrations in Madrid, Spain saying they are in response to austerity measures. The State Department has a travel warning to American's suggesting the demonstrations are regarding economic issues. BUT, a search shows that the demonstrations are in response to a 'security law' that limits demonstrations in Spain and an 'Anti-Islam' demonstration law. So I ask, which is it or is it both?

A top German body has called for a clear mechanism to force Greece out of the euro if the left-wing Syriza government repudiates the terms of the countryís Ä245bn rescue. ďFinancial support must be cut off if Greece does not comply with its reform commitments,Ē said the Institute of German Economic Research (IW). "If Greece is going to take a tough line, then Europe will take a tough line as well." IW is the second German institute in two days to issue a blunt warning to the new Greek premier, Alexis Tsipras, who has vowed to halt debt payments and...